Snigs, I’m sure there’s an element of truth in what you say about Hitler hoping he could let the British save some face by letting them escape, but isn’t it pretty widely accepted by most WW2 historians that a very misguided Goering was responsible for stopping the Panzers so his (very political, ie Nazi Party) Luftwaffe could claim the ‘final victory’ in destroying the BEF from the air? The Luftwaffe were cock a hoop after Spain, Poland and the virtually unopposed air campaign in France and the Low Countries in 1940 and Goering thought he could induce the BEF and the French troops mixed in with them to surrender to his Air Force. It wasn’t to be, and the rest, as they say, is history.